The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE).

SACT, in Norfolk, Virginia, has responsibility for capability development rather than operations.

The current SACEUR is General Christopher G. Cavoli of the United States Army.

The officeholders have been as follows: Single DSACEUR (April 1951 - January 1978) The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG GCB DSO PC DL Sir Richard Gale, GCB KBE DSO MC Sir Hugh Stockwell, GCB KBE DSO* Sir Thomas Pike, GCB CBE DFC* DL Sir Robert Bray, GCB KBE DSO* Sir Desmond Fitzpatrick, GCB GCVO DSO MBE MC Sir John Mogg, GCB CBE DSO* Sir Harry Tuzo, GCB OBE MC DL (As solo DSACEUR) Two DSACEURs (January 1978 until June 1993) Sir Harry Tuzo, GCB OBE MC DL - 2 November 1978 (As Co-DSACEUR) Gerd Schmückle - 1 April 1980 Sir Jack Harman, GCB OBE MC - 9 April 1981 Günter Luther - 1 April 1982 Sir Peter Terry, GCB AFC - 16 July 1984 Günter Kießling Hans-Joachim Mack - 1 October 1987 Sir Edward Burgess, KCB OBE Sir John Akehurst, KCB CBE - 17 January 1990 Eberhard Eimler - 2 October 1990 Sir Brian Kenny, GCB CBE - 5 April 1993 Dieter Clauss - 1 July 1993 Sir John Waters, GCB CBE - 1 July 1993 (As Co-DSACEUR) Single DSACEUR (July 1993 - Present) Sir John Waters, GCB CBE (As solo DSACEUR) Sir Jeremy Mackenzie, GCB OBE DL Sir Rupert Smith, KCB DSO* OBE QGM Dieter Stöckmann Rainer Feist Sir John Reith, KCB CBE Sir John McColl, KCB CBE DSO KStJ Sir Richard Shirreff, KCB CBE Sir Adrian Bradshaw, KCB OBE Sir James Everard, KCB CBE Sir Tim Radford, KCB DSO OBE Sir Keith Blount, KCB OBE FRAeS Under the 2002 Berlin Plus agreement, SHAPE may take part in the European Union's (EU) command and control structure as an operational headquarters (OHQ) for EU missions.

This use of SHAPE by the EU is subject to a "right of first refusal", i.e. NATO must first decline to intervene in a given crisis,[4][5] and is contingent upon unanimous approval among NATO states, including those outside of the EU.